Life Lessons From Patriots Gear‽

I like – no, I love – the New England Patriots! Although seen as a masshole by friends & frenemies every time the NFL season starts, I generally find watching my Patriots play awe inspiring.

Almost equally inspiring is some of the over priced Patriots Gear I own which not only perfectly reflects the football culture in Foxborough but also achieving a successful life as well.

Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Championships

The end goal in life is to be victorious. Striving for anything less will lead towards despair, complacency, mediocrity, stagnation, et al.

Aspiring champions desire to be recognized champions & will dedicate their life goals towards that end.

However it’s not enough to have the desire to be a champion.

One also must have liberty to choose the road towards victory (& adjust their lives accordingly) lest they end up frustrated by unfulfilled dreams.

Do Your Job

It does not matter whether you are working at your dream job, your in-between job or your mean job, you need to focus & Do Your Job (& do it well!).

Getting distracted by the future is entertaining but it will be all for naught if your present suffers as a result.

We all have responsibilities in the daily grind called life & ignoring those can postpone or even cancel out the future we desire or ruin the dream we have acquired.

One More

Achieving success in life is not accomplished by meeting the standard – or even exceeding it. It’s going beyond what we presume to be our limitations.

Can you only run for an hour max‽ How about one hour more‽

Can you only do one hundred push-ups‽ How about one hundred more‽

The best way to complete a formidable task is to break it down into smaller ones.

Running one more minute longer or doing one more push-up than the previous attempt will help you ultimately achieve your long term goal.

No Days Off

As much as I loathe this quote from Bill Belichick, in order for the NFL’s greatest coach to sustain his success he maintains a No Days Off philosophy.

Once achieved, success demands continued excellence, perseverance & self improvement if one desires to continue being successful.

It does not matter if it’s business, politics, technology, et al, there is always a rival seeking to dethrone the king of the mountain – at the current king’s expense.

Vigilance is required lest one ends up pondering how they forfeited the success they worked all of their lives to achieve.

Yes, I am a Masshole…

Ending this without rewatching Super Bowl 51 would be uninspiring but you can gain some valuable insights by listing to how the players reacted throughout the game.